Dragons of Bestiary 6

Thursday, April 6, 2017

It should come as no surprise that, in Bestiary 6, when you turn to the "D" section, you'll see some welcome and familiar reptilian shapes. I'm talking about dinosaurs of course. Who doesn't love dinosaurs?

OH! There's also true dragons.

One of the increasingly tricky things to do with true dragons is that we've established them as existing in families of five—not six, not four, but five. So when we do a set of true dragons in a book, that's pretty much it for that category, which means the next bestiary that comes along has to have a new category. Fortunately, there's a LOT of really cool categories to explore when it comes to true dragons, and with Bestiary 6 I was able to explore one that I'd been itching for since Bestiary 2, which presented dragons associated with several of the inner planes.

I'm talking, of course, about Bestiary 6's planar dragons. At first I wasn't sure how to pull this off, since there are, after all, nine significant outer planes, each of which map to one of the nine alignments. Doesn't that imply that there should be 9 planar dragons? Perhaps... but in the end I decided it did not. Instead, I picked five alignments out of nine. These planar dragons include the crypt dragon (representing the neutral plane of the Boneyard*), the havoc dragon (representing the chaotic good plane of Elysium), the infernal dragon (representing the lawful evil of Hell), the paradise dragon (representing the lawful goodness of Heaven), and the rift dragon (representing the chaos and evil of the Abyss), yet the role these dragons play is not "Dragons you meet on the outer planes." Instead, they're dragons that you'll normally encounter on the Material Plane, after migrating there via portals or other methods with a singular goal—to reshape a material plane lair to reflect their home planes. In this way, we give this group of five dragons a unique shared trait beyond "they're all from the outer planes," in a way that doesn't make a potential future category of other planar dragons from existing. We'd just need to figure out a different theme or niche other than "dragons who come to the Material Plane to colonize" is all.

The fact that this gives GMs one more vector to include other-planar elements in Material Plane adventures without resorting to the old trope of "a wizard conjured things" is icing on the cake.

Pictured below are three of the five planar dragons. You'll need to wait for the book's release to check out the havoc and infernal dragons, of course!

Gotta say the crypt Dragon art is not grabbing me, for one thing the Rift dragons eyes and the silhouette of its head pretty heavily reminds me of the art for Pharasma I actually initially though that it must be the crypt Dragon.

All the same the rift and paradise dragons look pretty kewl.

I'm also curious to see if there is any info on the relationship between Crypt Dragons and the Yamaraj, if there is one and what it is like, the ruling class of the Psychopomps that happens to look like a Dragom and is incredibly powerful. Though I suspect given how little lore is normally included for each Dragon they probably won't get a mention.

Hmm, so I was right that it was going to be the alignment extremes and neutral (LG, CG, LE, CE, N) and not just the alignment averages and neutral (NG, CN, LN, NE, N). Pretty neat, the idea of colonizing things and warping the material plane in areas to presumably have characteristics of their home planes sounds like an interesting plot element...even though I usually find so-called true dragons to be fairly boring as dragons go. Looking forward to my copy...

I have to say I am little disappointed with both design concept and art.

The paradise dragon should have had feathered wings.

Crypt(Boneyard)

Havoc(Elysium)

Infernal(Hell)

Paradise(Heaven)

Rift(Abyss)

So no maelstrom or axis based ones, that is beyond disappointing.

Feathers would have enhanced things, you're right. I'm not too sad about the lack of an Axis Dragon but a Mealstrom one would be pretty interesting and they could have conflict with the Keketar in theory. Would be fun.

Perhaps the Axis and Maelstrom dragons will come as part of another set of dragons that remained on their native planes. The four outer planes and one other dragon ...

I have to say I am little disappointed with both design concept and art.

The paradise dragon should have had feathered wings.

Crypt(Boneyard)

Havoc(Elysium)

Infernal(Hell)

Paradise(Heaven)

Rift(Abyss)

So no maelstrom or axis based ones, that is beyond disappointing.

I'll have to agree with you on this. The artwork doesn't fit the stated concept. Don't get me wrong, the artist is definitely talented, but I think the dragons presented should be more representative of their planes. I'd love to see a feathered dragon like a toucan, or scales made of bone. Look up the void dragon from Kobold Press.

I'm pretty much pleased with their appearance, but I hope that the Havoc and the Infernal dragons are completely different from the Rift and the Paradise dragons. I missed the diversity in the design of the true dragons.

AMAZING ILLUSTRATIONS! Thanks Leesha Hannigan!

I'm FAR MORE concerned about their power...

Dragon78 wrote:

I have to say I am little disappointed with both design concept and art.

Feathered wings would indeed make the paradise dragon more "angelical" or "celestial", but I'm ok with its design. To tell you the truth, I liked the originality of his appearance. I'm more intrigued by the fact that the Crypt and the Rift dragons fit each other home plane better... XD

Maybe the Havoc Dragon is the feathered one, as the paradise dragon reminds me of LUGIA.

I'm more intrigued by the fact that the Crypt and the Rift dragons fit each other home plane better... XD

I'm not too sure the Crypt Dragon art fitting the Rift Dragon but I definitely think the Rift Dragon art fits the crypt dragon concept better. What do you think about the Crypt art makes it fit the Abyss?

I'm more intrigued by the fact that the Crypt and the Rift dragons fit each other home plane better... XD

I'm not too sure the Crypt Dragon art fitting the Rift Dragon but I definitely think the Rift Dragon art fits the crypt dragon concept better. What do you think about the Crypt art makes it fit the Abyss?

The Rift dragon is the CE one, while the Crypt dragon is the N one, right? While the Rift dragon stance looks neutrally aloof, the Crypt dragon looks more wild and chaotic. Its as if it was going to attack the reader/viewer. That's why I think the Rift dragon is more suited for a creature that hails form "purgatory", and the crypt dragon should be the one that hails from the Abbys.

You compared the Rift dragon to Pharasma, and I could make the same regarding the Crypt Dragon and Rovagug or a demon lord such as Flarus or Xoveron.

While I made this statement, I'm not sure if I should be assuming that a crypt dragon is an aloof dragon. I mean, it wants to turn the material plane into the Purgatory/Boneyard... Into the realm of the dead... Maybe it is as neutral as the Tarrasque. =O

I'm pretty much pleased with their appearance, but I hope that the Havoc and the Infernal dragons are completely different from the Rift and the Paradise dragons. I missed the diversity in the design of the true dragons.

AMAZING ILLUSTRATIONS! Thanks Leesha Hannigan!

I'm FAR MORE concerned about their power...

Dragon78 wrote:

I have to say I am little disappointed with both design concept and art.

Feathered wings would indeed make the paradise dragon more "angelical" or "celestial", but I'm ok with its design. To tell you the truth, I liked the originality of his appearance. I'm more intrigued by the fact that the Crypt and the Rift dragons fit each other home plane better... XD

Maybe the Havoc Dragon is the feathered one, as the paradise dragon reminds me of LUGIA.

"(...) yet the role these dragons play is not "Dragons you meet on the outer planes." Instead, they're dragons that you'll normally encounter on the Material Plane, after migrating there via portals or other methods with a singular goal—to reshape a material plane lair to reflect their home planes. In this way, we give this group of five dragons a unique shared trait beyond "they're all from the outer planes," in a way that doesn't make a potential future category of other planar dragons from existing."

Oh, James, you... How could you?

You can't fill us with hope of seeing other dragons from the other planes like this... Now I'm imagining if one day we are going to see them.

I'm more intrigued by the fact that the Crypt and the Rift dragons fit each other home plane better... XD

I'm not too sure the Crypt Dragon art fitting the Rift Dragon but I definitely think the Rift Dragon art fits the crypt dragon concept better. What do you think about the Crypt art makes it fit the Abyss?

The Rift dragon is the CE one, while the Crypt dragon is the N one, right? While the Rift dragon stance looks neutrally aloof, the Crypt dragon looks more wild and chaotic. Its as if it was going to attack the reader/viewer. That's why I think the Rift dragon is more suited for a creature that hails form "purgatory", and the crypt dragon should be the one that hails from the Abbys.

You compared the Rift dragon to Pharasma, and I could make the same regarding the Crypt Dragon and Rovagug or a demon lord such as Flarus or Xoveron.

While I made this statement, I'm not sure if I should be assuming that a crypt dragon is an aloof dragon. I mean, it wants to turn the material plane into the Purgatory/Boneyard... Into the realm of the dead... Maybe it is as neutral as the Tarrasque. =O

I'm see what you mean about the posing thing you're right, it doesn't exactly look Chaotic evil. The crypt Dragon look more Rovaguggy too now you mention it.

I still haven't found much use for any dragon beyond the B1 ones. Maybe I'll find for these :)

That’s not surprising. Unfortunately, due to the extensive space used for the dragon's stats, they tend to be really undeveloped in the "wow I can base an adventure around this monster design" area. I found most of the dragons to be quite uninteresting. I hope these dragons get more than two sentences in their description.

Unless those are giant skulls, the Crypt Dragon looks to be a small creature.

Those aren't skulls; they're ossified fragments of souls that have merged with the quintessence of the Boneyard itself. The crypt dragon (as with all of the planar dragons) are properly biggie-sized dragons.

Please tell me there will be more than a sentence of lore for these dragons. Honestly the only part of these bestiaries I'm continuously disappointed in is that the true dragons are nothing but art and rules. I have all five bestiaries and I don't use any of the true dragons past the first since there's no lore to grab my attention. We need another dragons book to breath some life into them!

Please tell me there will be more than a sentence of lore for these dragons. Honestly the only part of these bestiaries I'm continuously disappointed in is that the true dragons are nothing but art and rules. I have all five bestiaries and I don't use any of the true dragons past the first since there's no lore to grab my attention. We need another dragons book to breath some life into them!

1000% agreed. Imperial dragons were the last ones that I really thought were interesting, due to all the lore about them in the Tian Xia book.

Please tell me there will be more than a sentence of lore for these dragons. Honestly the only part of these bestiaries I'm continuously disappointed in is that the true dragons are nothing but art and rules. I have all five bestiaries and I don't use any of the true dragons past the first since there's no lore to grab my attention. We need another dragons book to breath some life into them!

I feel for you there. The fact that the format we chose for our dragons limits us to only a very short section of flavor for them is very unfortunate... but it's a format we're more or less stuck with. I did my absolute best to get as much flavor text into the books for these five dragons, but that best is pretty much the same as all other dragons—only a few lines of text. (I considered at one point only providing one stat block for all five dragons—for the ancient version of each, but abandoned that idea pretty soon for reasons).

Please tell me there will be more than a sentence of lore for these dragons. Honestly the only part of these bestiaries I'm continuously disappointed in is that the true dragons are nothing but art and rules. I have all five bestiaries and I don't use any of the true dragons past the first since there's no lore to grab my attention. We need another dragons book to breath some life into them!

I feel for you there. The fact that the format we chose for our dragons limits us to only a very short section of flavor for them is very unfortunate... but it's a format we're more or less stuck with. I did my absolute best to get as much flavor text into the books for these five dragons, but that best is pretty much the same as all other dragons—only a few lines of text. (I considered at one point only providing one stat block for all five dragons—for the ancient version of each, but abandoned that idea pretty soon for reasons).

Unless those are giant skulls, the Crypt Dragon looks to be a small creature.

Those aren't skulls; they're ossified fragments of souls that have merged with the quintessence of the Boneyard itself. The crypt dragon (as with all of the planar dragons) are properly biggie-sized dragons.

Hmmm...yeah, concerning the Paradise Dragon, I would have prefered feathered wings as well (even if most Archons are fearsome and awe inspiring instead of "angelic in appearance"). The artwork is kind of lackluster I feel but then again I don't know what age categories we're being shown. One would think or at least hope we'd get artwork featuring ancient (or older) age categories but that went out the window with the other bestiaries unfortunately.

As for the names of the two good-aligned planar Dragons, "Paradise Dragon" is a bit of a cringy name for me. As much as it pains me to say it, I think WotC got it right with Radiant Dragon (being an embodiment of heaven's righteous divine light burning fiends and vile mortals to ash). As for "Havoc Dragon", wouldn't "Star Dragon" or a name signifying liberty and freedom be more appropriate? Havoc is a word that symbolizes chaos so I feel "Havoc Dragon" would be more symbolic of a Planar Dragon from the Maelstrom.

Hmmm...yeah, concerning the Paradise Dragon, I would have prefered feathered wings as well (even if most Archons are fearsome and awe inspiring instead of "angelic in appearance"). The artwork is kind of lackluster I feel but then again I don't know what age categories we're being shown. One would think or at least hope we'd get artwork featuring ancient (or older) age categories but that went out the window with the other bestiaries unfortunately.

As for the names of the two good-aligned planar Dragons, "Paradise Dragon" is a bit of a cringy name for me. As much as it pains me to say it, I think WotC got it right with Radiant Dragon (being an embodiment of heaven's righteous divine light burning fiends and vile mortals to ash). As for "Havoc Dragon", wouldn't "Star Dragon" or a name signifying liberty and freedom be more appropriate? Havoc is a word that symbolizes chaos so I feel "Havoc Dragon" would be more symbolic of a Planar Dragon from the Maelstrom.

Originality and diversity are two strong points I see in these dragons.

While maybe you are right about feathers making it more "heavenly", I don't see feathers on the might star archon, or not even on the hound archon, yet they are heaven's iconic products.

And, well, as Mr. Jacobs has said in the blog post, there's still room for dragons of these same planes.

The planar dragons aren't the only and sole dragons from their home plane and I loved this idea - it makes sense, as there are four breeds native to the material plane. It seems that, unlike we were expecting, they are more than "dragons that live in the outer planes", it's more like they are conquerors or harbingers from the outer planes.

I would really love a book about the ecology and society of these dragons.

EDIT: Havoc can also be taken as a confusion or disorder, things brought by the fey or the azata. Paradise can also be taken as an utopia, and I'm sure this is what the Archons are seeking.

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